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Debate Ignores the Imminent Fiscal Cliff Crisis

While squaring off on the first of three debates, neither President Barack Obama or Governor Mitt Romney gave viewers at home any idea of how either candidate would plan to avoid the fiscal cliff, which is anticipated to be the biggest financial issue facing the president, whoever that might be, on day one of next year.

As The Fiscal Times reported earlier this week, throughout the campaign, both presidential candidates have been silent on any plans to spare the economy from a potential financial crisis. Though some were expecting to hear the candidates’ positions on how to deal with the looming fiscal cliff during Wednesday’s debate, this was not the case.

The Bipartisan Policy Center’s Steve Bell called the evasion of the fiscal cliff “depressingly inevitable” and writes that Romney and Obama are avoiding even the most basic of questions like “should the country go over the cliff?” “If not, what’s your plan to prevent us from going over the cliff,” and “how will you pass the debt ceiling increase which will be required early next year?” All of these questions are crucial to the country’s economic wellbeing, and yet-they sit unanswered.

Business Insider’s Divya Raghaven, wrote that though neither Obama or Romney addressed the fiscal cliff during Wednesday’s debate, “Obama at least presented a coherent plan for reducing the deficit. Even after the debates, Romney’s full plan remains to be seen.”

“Americans can only hope that… remaining debates become more focused on what almost every serious analyst believes is a defining fiscal event—handling the fiscal cliff with a minimum of damage to the economy,” Bell said.